Plumeria are fragrant, flowering shrubs that are easy to grow in frost-free, water-wise gardens. Most people associate Plumeria with Hawaii but that’s not their native homeland. Where is their native habitat? Watch our show, Intoxicating Plumeria to find out.
Once you fall under the spell of Plumeria, you’ll soon notice that nurseries carry the more common varieties – they are a great place to start your collection. When you are ready for something more unusual, or if you’ve seen a Plumeria you covet in a friend’s garden, try your hand at making cuttings and rooting your own plants. Propagating Plumeria is pretty straightforward, even for a beginner.
Spring and summer are good times to propagate Plumeria from cuttings.
- Find a healthy branch on the mother plant. Select a branch with a brown or grayish surface, that’s about 12 to 18” long, and firm along the entire length. Look for a branch you can remove without marring the appearance of the mother plant or exposing its trunk to too much sunlight.
- Use a very sharp knife or razor knife. Use rubbing alcohol, disinfecting bathroom cleaner spray, or a 10% bleach solution to sterilize all of the knife’s surfaces.
- Carefully cut sever the branch from the mother plant. Cut it flush at the base so you don’t leave a stub behind. Then, check the cut end of the branch – if the cut is jagged, clean it up. You want a straight, clean cut.
- Dip the cut end into powdered sulfur to keep fungus from developing and to stop the sap from leaking out.
- Cut away all flower and flower bud stalks. Remove all but two leaves at the tip of the cutting, too, to encourage its energy to go into making new roots.
- Wrap the end of the cutting in plastic wrap or in a pot of damp coconut coir. Leave it for two weeks so the end forms a callus.
- After two weeks, fill a one-gallon plastic nursery pot with two thirds cactus mix, combined with one-third perlite or pumice. This mix will drain quickly to prevent the cutting from rotting. Saturate the mixture with water.
- With your fingers, poke a hole in the center of the potting soil, and insert the cutting, 1 1/2″ or 2″ deep. Firm the soil around the cutting. To keep the cutting anchored in place, set a stake next to the cutting, and carefully tie the cutting to the stake.
- Water the potting soil to settle the soil around the cutting.
- Put the potted cutting in a warm, protected spot with plenty of indirect light and good airflow. On a patio with filtered light or under a shade tree are good choices. Keep it out of direct sunlight.
- DO NOT water the pot until you see new leaves appear at the tip. When you see those new leaves, chances are, the cutting has rooted.
- To check, gently tug on the cutting. Rooted cuttings will resist. If it pulls out, put it back, water, and wait. Test again in another month.
- Once you see new leaves fully unfurl, start to acclimate your new Plumeria plant to sunlight. Move it into morning sun for an hour, then two hours, etc. until the cutting is in full, direct sunlight for at least six hours a day (that’s considered full sun).
- After the plant is acclimated, plant it into a permanent, year-round sunny spot in your garden or in a very large container in a spot in full sun.
Enjoy your new Plumeria!
I have a plant 2 feet tall in a pot. How many grafts can l do in one season.
Garry…….. .
Lets see if someone else has an answer to that question
> Select a branch with a brown or grayish surface, that’s about 12 to 18” long,
Hmmm… 2 feet is 24 inches. So 24 / 12 = you can get 2 grafts from your plant.
> I have a plant 2 feet tall in a pot. How many grafts can l do in one season
Hmmm… let’s see.
The article says, “select a branch with a brown or grayish surface, that’s about 12 to 18” long”.
2 feet = 24 inches. 24/12 = 2.
You can have 2 grafts.
Can I plant cuttings in potting soil with fertilizer in it?
Regular potting soil holds the water too long. Cactus mix drains quickly. Soil that holds too much water, as well as overwatering, are the main culprits in stem rot that has killed many a plumeria plant. Water only once a week. Get a Moisture Meter from Home Depot or Lowe’s to check for the soil moisture. Water when the meter says 2. Use liquid fertilizer made especially for plumerias like Hawaiian Magic and add to water every time you water.
Yes, I always mix a sprinkle of fertilizer in my potting soil before I plant my cutting
Thank you for the information.
If I receive this plant by August of this year will it bloom? I’m in Charlotte NC 28213.
Most likely your plumeria will not bloom this year as it will be stressed by travel from where is was shipped from. July & August is when plumerias generally bloom. If you buy an already potted plumeria from a nursery, it might have blooms. If you are ordering a cutting, it has to root and grow leaves and will not produce flowers the first year. Mine took a couple of years and it had to grow to about 4 feet tall in a pot.
Get ready for this: My name is Dale and I live in southern Louisiana, which is a solid subtropical climate. In March of this year (2022 had bought 4 plumeria cuttings from a vendor off of Etsy. I went through the conventional way of rooting them in small transparent plastic “SoLo” cups with holes drilled in the sides to insert water via a mister set on “jet”. Here it is in about a month later and one of them (the “rainbow” colored one) is putting out a flower stalk as the first emergence, The first “rattle out of the box, even before any leaves! It’s only about an inch long, but from seeing pictures, there’s no question in my mind that it’s an inflorescence. I can hardly wait for it to unfurl and reveal it’s true color!
Sorry about the punctuation “typo’s”, but I think I got my point across!
I removed the tips and little leaf there, will it be ok?
Hi Dale, Reading your post made me so excited 😊 for you! Totally wish you could show a picture! I myself bought 2 cuttings from a nursery here in Tyler tx. My first yr she bloomed a flower. One plant turned out to be pink and the other yellow with a hit of white. So beautiful! If you could pls post the esty seller I would love to have a rainbow plumeria! My son recently broke a branch and I’m doing the clipping process. I’m hoping the trauma doesn’t interfere with her blooms this yr! If anyone has any advice for the mature plant that was injured or the clipping pls don’t hesitate to share any adice.
Will this propagation work on a Pudica Plumeria also?
So I just helped a friend prune his trees today. I have some lovely branches from it that I am going to try to start. Can I cut a branch into multiple pieces? I know to cut the one end at an angle. Do I need to do anything with the top end?
Yesterday a kind man and his wife gifted me four plumeria cuttings. It was during a home show and I had stepped away when he dropped them off at my booth. So I didn’t get a chance to question how to do this process. So I am reading trying to figure all this out. I have no idea what color they are. Never having grown these, I’m excited to see if I can do this. Do I go straight for the soil or do I wrap them in plastic? This is sunny Southern California. Help??!!